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FRIDAY BITS AND PIECES

1.  This morning we had a visitor, for the first time ever, from the Northern Mariana Islands, Saipan 202.88.83 welcome to NAUTICAL LOG.  It has been quite a few years since we were in your area back in the early 1960's if memory serves in a British cargo ship of Andrew Wear's Bank Line.



2.  Oops!! this looks like a mini Costa Concordia accident.  One could note that this is the same company that was trying to operate a ferry between Port Everglades, FL and Grand Bahama last Christmas.  Not too much success at that either.


3.  The Miami International Boat Show is this weekend at the Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach, FL.  Well worth a visit if you are in town, and an added bonus is the fantastic weather.

4.  The video from the Bridge of the MS Costa Concordia has been released and is available on YouTube® - where else?  It is nine minutes long and shows a capable group of Officers receiving reports from throughout the ship and processing the data.  This information is passed on to the Master who seems overwhelmed by the situation, unable to accept its severity and does not make the necessary decisions to "Abandon Ship" early in the incident to get all the persons on board safely off the vessel.  As a result an hour is lost before the "Abandon Ship" order is finally given - an hour that would have made a significant difference.  It is also perhaps a lesson in how a weak Command can negate all the training done by Officers and crewmembers for just this type of situation.  NAUTICAL LOG firmly believes that a complete review of all passenger ship Masters is immediately required as to their ability to keep personal stability and thus situational control in a shipboard emergency.


Good Watch

No we have not forgotten our fellow seafarers held hostage off the coast of Puntland, Somalia - more later in the day.

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